The present invention relates generally to teaching machines and, more particularly concerns a system and method for teaching a language.
Traditional methods for teaching a language, in particular a foreign language, are far from enjoyable for students. Students spend a great deal of time learning rules of grammar and syntax and generally learn by memorizing words in the target language (the language being learned) that are translations of corresponding words in a source language. The only exposure to correct pronunciation might be on a recording or during discussions in a classroom. On such occasions, the student finds himself mentally composing his recitation in his native language and then translating it. The usual result is a halting, stilted recital, replete with grammatical and syntactic errors introduced by the translation process. The foregoing approach generally does not enable the language learner to converse fluently in the target language.
In contrast, upon first learning a language, young children are fully immersed in a natural learning process in which they learn words, grammar and syntax interactively through deductive reasoning, in context, and by emulating others. In time, children develop a flowing communication style, without the need to translate or to be concerned about rules. It would be desirable to be able to emulate this kind of learning process in learning a second language.
Systems of teaching a user language using immersion are known to some extent in the prior art. However, to best measure the user's progress, the language student should be prompted to speak naturally. Simply showing the user target language text to be read aloud is less than optimum, because read speech is not spoken the same way as natural speech not being read. Thus, attempting to gauge student progress by measuring an ability to read prepared text is generally not effective.
An existing method for measuring rhythmic contrast for an utterance is the use of the Pairwise Variability index (PVI) which involves determining the mean difference between pairs of adjacent syllables over an entire vocal utterance (also referred to herein as a speech sample). However, the use of adjacent syllables for measuring rhythm is of limited value in assisting a language learner to more accurately mimic native speech in the language being taught. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved system and method for comparing and/or contrasting the rhythm of two or more speech samples.